Asbestos removal one-third complete

By GINA HAMILTON • CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Taking a short break from monitoring asbestos removal at the old Millboro school buildings are, from left: Robert Jones, project foreman; Chance Famuliner, environmental scientist and owner of Rockbridge Environmental Consulting, Inc., which is monitoring the project; and Danny Shifflett, project manager for Asbestco., Inc., at the Elkton office. (Recorder photo by Gina Hamilton)

MILLBORO - From the outside, it does not look like much is happening in the three old buildings that once housed the elementary school and the high school. But inside, work by Asbestco, Inc. employees continue at a steady pace to remove old asbestos insulation and complete major cleaning projects at the old Millboro campus.

While the public can not yet be admitted for a closer look of work in progress, principals involved in the massive project for the Millboro Preservation and Cultural Association took time out last week to bring the project up to date.

"It's one-third of the way complete," said project manager Danny Shifflett of Asbestco's Elkton office. "In the 1930s addition, the upper floors are finished. All walls, carpets, loose paint have been removed and/or cleaned."

Shifflett's crew is doing the asbestos removal and large housekeeping, said Chance Famuliner, the environmental scientist who operates Rockbridge Environmental Consulting in Lexington and was hired by MPCA to provide quality assurance and project oversight, which includes checking samples and comprehensive inspections.

Along with Asbestco project foreman Robert Jones, the men said most of the asbestos was found in ceilings and floor tiles. In the 1960 addition, they are more than threefourths of the way finished.

Shifflett said they have started on the 1913 building, the oldest portion, working in the basement and kitchen area on the ceiling, floor tile and pipe insulation. "Asbestos was the premium material used from the late 1940s to 1973," said Famuliner, "the times we saw the largest application in commercial buildings." When work is finished there, the Asbestco crew will move back to the 1930s building, working in the boiler room and crawl space area under the building. According to Shifflett, he has six to 10 employees on site per day.

The men work with respirators to protect them from asbestos fibers and wear double suits of disposable coveralls. Filtered air goes twice through their respirators and machines with Hepa filters remove any fibers; flex tubing then carries the air out of the building.

Jones noted they have a full decontamination area set up complete with showers.

Famuliner said quite a few residents have stopped by and many positive comments have been received about the first step toward renovation of the buildings for community use again.

"It's a mutual feeling that we're all excited to restore this building to community use," he said, "to bring a historic building back to local use. Often (in other projects) the buildings are torn down."

They are taking photos of the work in progress and also uncovered a bag of photos of old sports events, probably from the 1980s, said Jones, of basketball and football games and fund-raising events. "They were gifted to Jackie Plecker (co-chair of the MPCA)," Jones said.

Shifflett added, "It's a standing rule if we find anything, to gift it to Jackie."

Bath County signed over ownership of the four-acre site with school buildings to the MVPA on April 27. The association plans to restore the buildings into a variety of local uses, including a community center, offices, and apartments for retirees. The small, separate former home economics building will become the future Millboro Historical Museum.

According to the deed, the county is paying up to $145,550 for asbestos removal from the buildings, and up to $194,000 for new roofing, as well as water and sewer connection fees. The MPCA has conducted fund-raising activities for the past year toward obtaining the property and has raised more than $88,000. Initial estimates last year were for $1.9 million to restore the buildings and improve the property. The deed specifies a 10-year timeline for the entire project. The MPCA estimates the value of the property will be $2.5 million at that time.